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The Post-Christmas Video Game Marathon

By: Rick Ace Rhodes

It's been a general observation of mine over the years that the week following Christmas is generally one of the oddest weeks of the year. I don't know what it really is either. I guess that it has a lot to do with the holiday being over, so all the excitement is gone. Plus people generally want to recover from the festivities, so no one wants to really do anything. This has generally lead to the Christmas break being one of the more boring weeks out of the year.

From this boring and odd atmosphere emerged one of my favorite traditions: having a video game marathon.

I've been a gamer ever since I was really young, and my father was the one who got me into video games. When my father would usually come home from work at the end of the day, me and him would spend the night playing video games together. I remember the day before I started first was a special one: after he took me out to eat in the morning, we spent the entire rest of the day playing video games on the original PlayStation.

So as you can most likely guess I was getting video games as presents for both my birthday and Christmas. In the week following Christmas, when everything was boring and odd, I would have video game marathons of the video games I got that year. I would spend hours of the day and night playing the games I had gotten.

I can't remember every video game I played during this marathon over the years, but I do remember some of them, and I've decided to review and talk about them...

I was no stranger to Spongebob games in my youth. I had a couple of different ones before I got Revenge of the Flying Dutchman for Christmas in 2002. I remember begging my mother to buy me this game for weeks when it came out, though she always turned me down, telling me maybe I would get it for Christmas. Well for Christmas I opened up one of my presents and found the game case staring right at me. I was so excited as I put the game disc into my PS2 and started playing it, only to be disappointed by what I got.

The game wasn't all that bad, however, the game is one of the worst Spongebob games out there, especially on the consoles. The graphics were pretty primitive for PS2, using only the most basic aspects of the PS2's abilities. It also had slow controls, weak music, long loading screens and several bugs and glitches.

The game play was also pretty sub-par. The Flying Dutchman is going around kidnapping Spongebob's friends to make them serve on his ghost ship. As Spongebob, you run around from area to area trying to collect tiles that spell out your name. These tiles allow you the opportunity to collect "magical" items that used to belong to the Dutchman. Only with these items can Spongebob take on the Dutchman and free his friends from the Dutchman's control.

I did play this game a lot over Christmas, but I could never fully get the hang of it, so I never got too far into. At one point the game froze and I couldn't unfreeze it. My mother eventually took the game back, and the video game clerk said that their was a major crack in the disc. So he gave my mom a new disc and eventually I managed to continue on with my play. It took me years, but I did eventually beat the game, though that wasn't really a major accomplish. The game never lived up to my expectations, and it now remains a childhood memory.

A year later a new Spongebob game was out, Battle for Bikini Bottom. This time around the game was far better than the previous Spongebob game. The developers used a brand new engine for this game, and as a result the graphics were far better and the controls were more clean and up to pace. The game also went with a more open world environment, and a fast travel option for getting between spatulas

Yes, spatulas. The game has you going around collecting golden spatulas. Each area contained a different amount, and once you learn of the quest for one you could fast travel if you want to skip now and return later. As you collect them, you open up new areas to explore, and eventually a certain amount leads you to the final boss battle.

This time around, longtime Spongebob villain Plankton is the main baddie. He's unleashed an army of uncontrollable robots that are wreaking havoc all over Bikini Bottom. This time you can actually play as three different characters: Spongebob, Patrick and Sandy. Using these three, you go around beating robots and collecting those golden spatulas.

This game actually did live up to my expectations unlike Revenge of the Flying Dutchman. As a result, I continued playing this game for years and years. I was still playing it right up until I got rid of my PS2.

That same Christmas I got Budokai 2. The Budokai games have always been a hit or miss with fans of Dragon Ball Z, especially the first few. I never saw anything wrong with them, even with the first game where even Toonami was giving it an average review, which I had gotten early that year.

The second game was pretty odd for a fighting game. While it featured more playable characters, along with later story lines, the main campaign used an odd board game theme.

Seriously, the game used a board game as model for it's campaign mode. You go around around collecting power ups and moving spaces. If you collide with another character you go into battle. If you win, your opponent loses a life. If you lose, you lose a life. As long as Goku doesn't die, the game won't be over. But in some levels you don't even have to fight, because as that one link showed you, you can avoid conflict and just level up by finishing some other objective, taking a whole lot out of the whole "fighting" atmosphere.

The campaign stretches the entire DBZ series, from the first arrival of the Saiyans to the last battle with Kid Buu, so you do get quite a bit out of the game. This was one I did enjoy playing in my marathon that year, even taking some time away from that Spongebob game. Budokai 2 is not often considered a fan favorite by most accounts, but it's one of mine no doubt.

The next year I got Budokai 3. This is one of the Budokai games that's well liked by fans, though not by me. I didn't find this game to be bad, but unlike most fans I enjoyed the first two games far more then I did this one. I never made it all that far into the game. As Goku I only made it up to Frieza before getting stuck, never getting past him.

The game feature a lot of characters, which I guess is why it was so well liked. The game went into both the movie universe and GT in order to get all those characters. You could actually choose which character you wanted to play the campaign as, which I guess is another reason why so many people like this game.

I don't know why I never got into this game. I tried several different characters, but I could never make it far into the game. This is why, after I got the game for Christmas, I never really played it again after my marathon that year. I only played it a handful of other occasions to my memory, which is kind of sad.

Ahh yes... the first Lego Star Wars game. I remember when the Lego Star Wars brand first hit how big it truly was, which is why it was no surprise that they decided to make it into a video game. I had Lego video games before this one, but this one took the cake. This game is often credited for kicking off the Lego movie games that have continued to this very day.

The game covers the first three episodes of the Star Wars franchise, which is odd because this game actually came out before the third episode of Star Wars did, Revenge of the Sith. I don't know how this game didn't ruin the movie for everyone across the globe, but for some reason it didn't.

This game was very cool, featuring a wide array of playable characters from the Star Wars universe. My father enjoyed this game too, as he and I would often play two player mode, one of my fondest memories from our video game days together.

Yep, Animal Crossing.

My friend and I had played this game together for awhile. I know you might find that odd since Animal Crossing is a one player game, but me and him would often just take timed turns playing. One Christmas he decided to buy it for me so I would have my own copy.

There really wasn't a whole lot to this game. You simply took it day by day, but for some reason it was still exciting to play. Unfortunately, you could only do so much in one day, which is why it didn't make for a good marathon game.

That same year I also got Star Fox Adventures. I didn't even ask for it (though I did want it bad). I had gotten Assault earlier for my birthday, and as I was reading the booklet that came with it, I was telling my father about earlier games in the Star Fox franchise. As I told him about Adventures, he got the idea that it would be a good present for Christmas.

This was a game I put hours upon hours into, which made it a good marathon game, but it was one of the most frustrating games I ever played. The game really was so long, and I never managed to actually beat it. The last day of school that year I spent a whopping SEVEN hours on this game alone, and even then I could only do so much in it. I was still playing this game well into the 2010's.

So then there was the second Lego Star Wars game, a game that actually came with quite a fight. During a visit to my local mall, I bought the game from my favorite video game store with my own money. I did it because it was the only video game they had that I really wanted. Unfortunately when my mom found out, she made me return it, because I had already put it on my Christmas list, and she didn't want to force anyone else to return it if they already bought it.

I threw a fit of course (even though I was well beyond that age in life), and I was crying throughout the rest of our trip to the mall.

I did get the game for Christmas of course, though it didn't make it to my marathon event. My uncle decided to play it with me on Christmas, and the two of us actually managed to get through it by the next day. It was fun playing with him, but I still have no idea how we plowed through that game so fast. It wasn't that short of a game, but somehow the two of us managed to push right through the game.

Entering the Wii era was an overall learning experience. I learned quickly that outside of Nintendo's owned universe, games for the Wii were usually complete crap, representing the worst of what's referred to as "shovelware", one of the worst things for a video game to be categorized as. I would often see Wii games and judge them right by their cover, putting no thought into it and letting my excitement come over me.

Battle Rage Mech Conflict was one of those games. The year before for my birthday I was burned by one of these games, but Christmas a year later I failed to learn my lesson. I got more than a few Wii games that year, but this one stood out. I thought this would be an awesome robot fighting game, however, I quickly realized it was a bland and overall confusing game, which killed my excitement right there. This game didn't even make it to my marathon, as I played it only once on Christmas and never again. Over a year later I sold the game back to Gamestop.

The year before that I actually did have a good Wii game for my marathon. The third Metroid Prime game was an overall good game, but it was also frustrating. I played it all week long and I could only make a small scratch into it. It took me a year and half to get through it. Much like Star Fox Adventures it was simply too long to hold my interest, though at least I did eventually beat this one.

So then there was another Wii game a year after that Mech one. This one wasn't at all bad however. The game has you going around collecting clues and interviewing suspects to try and solve this one mystery. I actually got pretty addicted to it, as I was staying up at night to try to beat it. It fit perfectly into my marathon, because once I started playing it, I didn't stop until Christmas break was over and it was time to go back to school.

While you might think that's a good thing, in the long run it wasn't. It should have included a few more mysteries instead of just the one, because once I beat it the fun was gone from it. Eventually, a month later, I sold it back to Gamestop.

So those were some of the games from my marathon over the years. While there were plenty more, I figured these were the best ones to illustrate it over the years, and are just a sample of my love for video games.

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Rick Ace Rhodes Posted on Dec 14, 2015 at 11:12 PM

Thanks guys. I know it didn't seem Retro enough, and that's something I try to avoid in general. However, I figured since it happened long ago it fit alright.

Vaporman87 Posted on Dec 11, 2015 at 01:44 AM

It's a bit outside the standard time frame we focus on... pre-2000's. I'll let it slide since it does focus on a specific personal holiday tradition.

echidna64 Posted on Dec 10, 2015 at 05:53 PM

Nice article! A video game marathon is a great way to take advantage of all the free time. When everyone is home for a holiday my brothers and I usually do a 24-hour LAN party. However, you might have sparked a new controversy this contest- is it retro?

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